Purdue beating the shit outta IU was pretty fun. That Tom Crean contract extension is really hurting right now, his buyout for the next two years (I think) is like 12 million. Two All Americans, 3 other top 50 recruits, and you just got your shit pushed in. Keep talking about "well, we're young..." while ignoring how young Purdue is. Keep Crean forever you entitled pricks.

Even though it'll be a home game, if UNC beats Duke on Thursday I may officially jump back on the other side of the fence where I think this team's ceiling might be Sweet 16/Elite 8 instead of first round (the real 64 team first round) or second round.

Main reason this win was so encouraging, even though it came over a struggling Florida State team, is because McAdoo was in foul trouble all night, fouled out, and scored 0 points after playing at a very high level and being UNC's best player the last several weeks. So we still found a way to win on the road with our best player making virtually no impact.

Even though it'll be a home game, if UNC beats Duke on Thursday I may officially jump back on the other side of the fence where I think this team's ceiling might be Sweet 16/Elite 8 instead of first round (the real 64 team first round) or second round.

Main reason this win was so encouraging, even though it came over a struggling Florida State team, is because McAdoo was in foul trouble all night, fouled out, and scored 0 points after playing at a very high level and being UNC's best player the last several weeks. So we still found a way to win on the road with our best player making virtually no impact.

That was the worst officiated game I can ever remember. This is not hyperbole; that is literally the worst officiated game I can ever remember watching.

There were so many bad calls against both teams. McAdoo's third foul was atrocious. He was barely apart of the play. The missed goaltend against Brice was awful. The ball was like 6 inches coming down from the apex before the block. FSU was holding our guys with two hands on nearly every offensive rebound attempt. Towards the end, our guys were shoving theirs on the floor with no calls. Then they would call the smallest touch foul on the next possession. It was hysteria. Both teams had legitimate claims against the officials.

Perhaps not the best, but it was the most impressive win of the season. The fact that they could go on the road, in a classic trap game, have arguably their best player foul out in 13 minutes with 0 points, have his backup foul out, have to come back from 15, and still win... I don't care what happens on Thursday, my expectations are set.

Not quite as high as your ceiling, though. Thinking 32/Sweet 16 is a proper ceiling for a team with 1 shooter (sorry, Leslie) and no legitimate post player to throw down to. McAdoo is more jump shooting and using his first step to get to the rim, or unless you want to count Brice? The margin of error for this team is way too slim. They are getting wins almost solely by out hustling the other team and playing good defense.

The stats dished out during the game were upseting. This UNC team is currently on pace to be the worst 3pt shooting and free throw shooting team in program history. Unbelievable. Eventually you need to make shots, or have a Kemba Walker on the team to make all your shots for you. Marcus is the only one capable of doing that, and while I'm in the belief he could carry this team (because that's basically what he has been doing in every second half lately), I'm not sure he can do it for an entire tournament. Or even enough to get to an Elite Eight, baring a good draw. That's too much pressure to put on one player; a player who is playing, what I have to assume is, near 38 minutes a night in conference.

Basically what was said about this very same team early in the season: They can lose to anyone or they can beat anyone and you wouldn't be surprised. The same holds true now, except in a more optimistic light.

[quote=IGotACoolStory]That was the worst officiated game I can ever remember. This is not hyperbole; that is literally the worst officiated game I can ever remember watching.

There were so many bad calls against both teams. McAdoo's third foul was atrocious. He was barely apart of the play. The missed goaltend against Brice was awful. The ball was like 6 inches coming down from the apex before the block. FSU was holding our guys with two hands on nearly every offensive rebound attempt. Towards the end, our guys were shoving theirs on the floor with no calls. Then they would call the smallest touch foul on the next possession. It was hysteria. Both teams had legitimate claims against the officials.[?QUOTE]
Yeah, after JMM's third foul I about lost it. That would've been one of those very rare occasions I wouldn't have been too upset with a college player losing his shit to the point he got a T. Even the commentators were appalled at how terrible the call was.

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Perhaps not the best, but it was the most impressive win of the season. The fact that they could go on the road, in a classic trap game, have arguably their best player foul out in 13 minutes with 0 points, have his backup foul out, have to come back from 15, and still win... I don't care what happens on Thursday, my expectations are set.

Yeah, all things considered it was a very impressive win. Seemed like everything was going to go against us from the outset and they still managed to hang in there and win. This is turning into one of Roy's best coaching jobs ever...even better than last year. And people can say he's done it to himself by not recruiting well recently and whatnot...but if this team had P.J. Hairston like they were supposed to, then they absolutely are a Final Four caliber team. They've got the right mix of role players and frontcourt depth to where they just need that one big time stud who can carry them on any given night and P.J. would've been/is that caliber of player. A Hairston/Paige backcourt would've been in the discussion for best backcourt in the country and our frontcourt depth is turning out to be really, really good with JMM's ascension to finally being a damn good college player and Brice's and Meeks' continued improvement. Throw in a few minutes of Hicks, James, and Hubert who all bring different things to the table, and you've got a pretty damn good 5-6 man frontcourt rotation; granted Hubert and, to a lesser extent James, are pretty awful but they do certain things well enough that, in just about 5-7 minutes per game, it usually makes up for their weaknesses.

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Not quite as high as your ceiling, though. Thinking 32/Sweet 16 is a proper ceiling for a team with 1 shooter (sorry, Leslie) and no legitimate post player to throw down to. McAdoo is more jump shooting and using his first step to get to the rim, or unless you want to count Brice? The margin of error for this team is way too slim. They are getting wins almost solely by out hustling the other team and playing good defense.

I think Elite 8 is possible with the right matchups. By that, I mean we get a 6-9 seed and, somewhere along the way after the 1st round, we get another double-digit Cinderella who doesn't have much size.

Quote:

Basically what was said about this very same team early in the season: They can lose to anyone or they can beat anyone and you wouldn't be surprised. The same holds true now, except in a more optimistic light.

Yeah, right now it just feels different. This has been a sustained period of good play where you're seeing the players settle into their roles and figure out the things they can and can't do. We very well may lose by 20 to Duke on Thursday, but for now I have some level of reason to believe this team can win a game or two or three in the tournament with the right matchups. Of course we'll probably get an 8 or 9 seed in Arizona's region and have to play them in Tempe or somewhere like that.

The f**k is going on tonight? Syracuse loses at home to a terrible BC team; Florida has to come from behind at home to barely beat a terrible Auburn team; and Arizona gets taken to OT by a "meh" Utah taem. At least Arizona's game was on the road.

Syracuse had it coming. They should've lost at home to a pretty mediocre NC State team and had a semi-controversial home win over Duke. In a normal year (or at least what was a normal year 5 years ago) I wouldn't be even a little bit sold on them as a national championship threat because they just aren't good enough offensively. But since this is another one of those years where there's no "great" teams and just a bunch of good to really good teams, they're still probably as big of a threat as anyone.

Thank you UNC for making tonight not a complete disaster for me. I can avoid the NBA board for a couple of days after the Thunder debacle against the Heat. Thought we were dead in the water after falling behind by 11, and thought we we blew our chance when we had it a 4 point game forever and couldn't get any closer even though Duke was ice cold.

But dammit this team is resilient as f**k. Roy has done a masterful coaching job this year.